The environment in the news thursday, 30 August 2012
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- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Times of India (India): Environment information centres set up for data collection
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Post media news (Canada): Worry is growing over cuts to environment
- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Sydney morning herald (Australia): Super trawler docks despite protesters
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- Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Sudan vision: NCF on RIO +20 Sustainable Development Conference (3-3)
_________________________________________________________________ Financial times (UK): Broad Group head seeks to save environment 29 August 2012 Along with setting out to build the world’s tallest building, Zhang Yue, Broad’s chairman, has also refined and expanded on the 10 Commandments. He has written a code of 110 rules about how to live and work that employees must memorise on joining the company, ranging from the personal (“brush your teeth twice a day”) to the sublime (“love Broad Group; if you must leave, never harm it”). Mr Zhang has tried to build not just a company but a culture. Most employees live in dormitories on the factory campus known as Broad Town. Located in a suburb of Changsha, Broad Town features a Versailles-like palace for corporate training. Each day begins with employees gathering outside to sing the Broad anthem. “I love our clients and help them grow their value” is one of the lines. If there is a lot of talk about love, it is because Mr Zhang’s consuming passion is Broad Group. He fervently believes it can help solve the world’s environmental problems. This zeal translates into a desire to manage the minutiae of Broad’s operations. Entering a company canteen at lunch, his first order of business is to instruct the staff to open the blinds in a corner window. After lunch, the blinds properly adjusted, he moves to a showroom to select floor tiles for a workers’ dormitory. “If poor construction materials are used, dozens of generations will feel the impact.” Then it is on to a meeting with a team of architects. Blueprints for the dormitory are pressed into his hands. With a flash of his pen, Mr Zhang shifts the location of supporting pillars. The next question is the basement design for another building. “Let’s make it smaller,” he says. “I hate concrete. It’s bad for the environment.” That settled, he proposes a new location for the parking lot of yet another building, a 60-storey tower to be built in western China. The meeting adjourned, Mr Zhang hears that a batch of prefabricated floor blocks has been completed at the factory. He hops on a bike, one of the fleet provided for employees to get around, and zips off to inspect. Later, during a moment of repose on a muggy day, Mr Zhang finally sits down. His wife pours him tea from a flask and he unbuttons his shirt until just one final button above his belt remains done up. He looks tired but insists the workload is not too much. “I do the plans and the final checks. My staff does the implementation,” he says. One of China’s first entrepreneurs to buy a private jet, Mr Zhang says he stopped flying it when he learnt that the carbon emissions generated by one return trip to Beijing was equivalent to the carbon absorbed by eight trees over 60 years. “In the early days of Broad, we primarily aimed at making money,” he says. “[Now] we have only one motive, to save energy and reduce greenhouse emissions.” Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Times of India (India): Environment information centres set up for data collection 30 August 2012 Environment Information Centres have been set up by the Union forest and environment ministry for collection of data pertaining to environment in every state of the country. These centres collect environment-related data in each state and make them available to people through various mediums. This was informed by union additional secretary environment for forest Nandita Chatterjee at the inaugural function of a national workshop on 'Environment Information Systems' evaluation and discussion' here on Wednesday. The two-day workshop has been organised by the Union environment and forest ministry with the cooperation of Madhya Pradesh Disaster Management Institute. Representatives of all the states concerned with environmental issues and scientists from prestigious institutions of the country are participating in the workshop. Chatterjee informed that 66 Environment Information Centres are being run in the country with the assistance of prestigious institutions, universities and voluntary organizations. Of these, 28 centres collect information as per regional and state-level requirements under prescribed norms whereas 38 centres collect and provide information as per themes and subjects. Environment Information Centre has also been set up in Bhopal-based Disaster Management Institute. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Post media news (Canada): Worry is growing over cuts to environment 29 August 2012 Fears are growing that developments such as independent power projects, shellfish farms on beaches and marina expansions are likely to be built without oversight as the federal government cuts back on environmental assessments. Changes to the federal Environmental Assessment Act are halting more than 500 B.C. assessments in their tracks and many future projects will no longer meet the criteria for assessments. Although a scathing report last year by Auditor General John Doyle prompted changes to the B.C. Environmental Assessment Office, critics say it remains woefully understaffed and does not have the capacity to adequately conduct more assessments. "The province has cut and gutted the Ministry of Environment right down to the bone," said John Werring, David Suzuki Foundation aquatic habitat specialist. "They don't have the capacity or resources, so a lot of these projects will just slip through the cracks." Ecojustice, on behalf of the Suzuki Foundation and Watershed Watch Salmon Society, has asked B.C. Supreme Court for a judicial review of the province's decision not to conduct an environmental review of a hydro power project near McBride. The case illustrates problems that are now likely to become more common, Werring said. The Holmes River run-of-river power project has 10 units on the same watershed producing a total of 85 megawatts. But because each unit produces less than 50 megawatts, an environmental assessment is not required. Ecojustice lawyer Tim Leadem said the case shows proponents are already finding ways to avoid assessments - even though the reviews are usually a way to make a project better for both the environment and the company. "The environmental assessment process involves listening to experts and usually points out defects in the project so that, over time, the project will be sustainable and you don't have to go back and remediate problems," Leadem said. Josh Paterson, West Coast Environmental Law staff lawyer, said one of the concerns is the cumulative impact of smaller developments that aren't subjected to an assessment. "There could be a significant effect with multiple projects in a small area like Vancouver Island," he said. "The whole reason for an environmental assessment is to be able to find out how all those things interact." The changes could be even more devastating when combined with federal cuts to other environmental protections such as the Fisheries Act, Paterson said. Assessments that have been abandoned on Vancouver Island include high-profile projects such as the $1.2 million John Hart Generating Station Replacement Project at Campbell River, Craigflower Bridge and Victoria International Marina. Among the approximately 150 other abandoned Vancouver Island assessments are expansion of Van Isle Marina in Sidney; remediation of contaminated soil on Esquimalt Indian reserve; Halalt First Nation waterworks project; a multitude of Department of National Defence projects including a forward operating base simulator at Rocky Point and construction of a sea container facility in Colwood; construction of the Port Alice public marina; and Cowichan Lake waterfront walkway. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Sydney morning herald (Australia): Super trawler docks despite protesters 30 August 2012 The controversial super trawler Margiris has docked at Port Lincoln, South Australia, despite attempts by Greenpeace to prevent the ship's arrival. Activists had chained themselves to pylons on the wharf forcing the ship to reverse. Another six activists on an inflatable boat failed to board the Dutch ship earlier this morning as it was escorted by two tug boats to its first Australian port to refuel. Security remained tight at the dock as a crowd of people gathered to watch the trawler's arrival. The Dutch-owned giant trawler is en route to Tasmania, having been approved to haul 18,000 tonnes of small surface-dwelling fish from Australian waters each year, a decision that has angered conservation groups and recreational fishers. Advertisement The ship is the largest trawler ever to fish Australian waters, and is being brought to Australia by Seafish Tasmania to fish offshore between NSW and Western Australia. While some commercial fishers welcome the giant trawler, saying it will be a boost to the industry, opposers fear the operation will plunder populations of the target species, redbait and mackerel, and capture large numbers of other species in its nets. The chief executive of Greenpeace, David Ritter, said giant trawlers had a terrible track record for pillaging fish stocks in other parts of the world. "The jack mackerel stocks in the Pacific, which they said was impossible to collapse, fell apart under pressure," he said. At the centre of the fracas is the trawler's jack mackerel quota, set by the federal government's Australian Fisheries Management Authority, which was doubled to 10,000 tonnes this year. The Commonwealth Ombudsman launched an inquiry into the authority's quota-setting process last week. Yesterday, the Herald revealed the director of Seafish Tasmania, Gerry Geen, had been present at the authority's early advisory meetings, that were tasked with setting the quota, before joining other members of the group to support the proposal. The quota is based on egg surveys, which are used to estimate the size of spawning stocks, carried out by the scientists at two fisheries research institutes. AFMA's website says the jack mackerel quota was doubled based on research conducted in 2002-04, and published last year, which found the species spawned greater numbers than previously thought. But the chief executive of Tasmanian Association for Recreational Fishing, Mark Nikolai, said there was insufficient data on the species movements, stock numbers for local populations or the species ability to replenish its stocks when fished. To appease community opposition to the Margiris, the Fisheries Minister, Joe Ludwig, formed a working group to examine licence conditions for the ship, but talks failed when the recreational fishers left the group, unsatisfied by the scientific advice given to it. The federal Environment Minister, Tony Burke, is also seeking advice about whether he has the power to prevent or restrict the vessel under environmental law. To fish in Commonwealth waters, the trawler must reregistered as Australian before it can begin netting fish. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Japan Daily press (Japan): Environment Ministry declares Japanese river otter extinct 28 August 2012 While previously labeled as a critically endangered species, the Japanese river otter was officially declared extinct today by the Ministry of the Environment, adding that one hasn’t been seen for more than 30 years. The species of otter was designated as special natural monument, as it was the first Japanese mammal to have survived until the Showa Era (1926-1989). Four other Japanese mammals, two species of bat and two species of wolf, were declared extinct during the Meiji Era (1868-1912). Belonging to the Mustelidae family, the Japanese river otter was known to be roughly 110 centimeters (43 inches) in length, and was often found in rivers throughout the country. Sadly the species’ numbers quickly dropped due to over-hunting for its fur, and the destruction of its environment by city development. The last official recognized sighting was at a river in Susaki, Kochi Prefecture, in 1979. The last Japanese river otter in captivity was kept at a zoo in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, from 1956 to 1969. The Environment Ministry’s records of past surveys indicate that the Japanese species vanished from the northern island of Hokkaido in the 1950s, and from the main island of Honshu and other southern areas sometime in the 1990s. A professor emeritus from Kochi University, Yoshihiko Machida, still believes the otter may exist, and that the ministry made its announcement of extinction too early. Machida says that there were confirmed otter droppings found in 1999, and wants to continue his investigations to see if they might still exist. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Philstar (Philippines): 2012 Ramon Magsaysay Awards: Bangladesh lawyer fights for environmental justice 29 August 2012 She “eats death threats for breakfast” but no amount of intimidation can diminish Bangladeshi lawyer Syeda Rizwana Hasan’s passion to protect the people’s right to a healthy environment. Hasan, executive director of the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA), a pioneer in public interest litigation, has fought a battle in the courts to prevent toxic-laden ships from entering their country unless they have decontaminated at their point of origin. Hasan is among six recipients of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Award, the Asian counterpart of the Nobel Prize. “I’m lucky to have one death threat during the hearing phase of one case. I try not to take them seriously. I know that my opponents are threatening me because their financial interests are threatened,” Hasan told The STAR yesterday. Hasan, who assumed leadership of BELA in 1997 when its founder, respected lawyer-activist Mohiuddi Farooque, died, has also moved mountains to enforce standards for the protection of workers and the environment. Hasan said their battle may be far from over but they have managed to score significant successes. For the first time in the judicial history of Bangladesh, compensatory fines were ordered against a polluter in 2003. In 2009, the Supreme Court also ordered the closure of all 36 ship-breaking yards in Bangladesh that have been operating without environmental clearance, and directed the pre-cleaning at origin, or before entering Bangladesh, of all ships to be imported for breaking. “Things are not so rosy yet but I am hopeful that in time our efforts will pay off,” Hasan said. From the time she took over as head of BELA, the organization’s legal activism has widened, taking on close to a hundred cases involving industrial pollution, sand extraction from rivers, forest rights, river pollution and encroachment, hill cutting, illegal fisheries, and waste dumping, among others. “Also now, every political party in Bangladesh needs to have environmental protection in their platform of governance,” Hasan added. Born in Dhaka to a family with a tradition of public service, Hasan earned a master’s degree in law and immediately went to work for BELA. Hasan stressed that the right to environment is part of the constitutional right to life. “My job it so revive hope in the judicial system among Bangladeshis, to give the message to the people that the law and lawyers do not always exist for the mightiest,” Hasan said. “When I talk to people, I see their sufferings. You see, when we took our oath as lawyers, we promised to uphold the interest of the poor people,” Hasan said. Apart from the Ramon Magsaysay Award, Hasan has also received numerous honors including the Global 500 Roll of Honor from the United Nations Environment Program, Heroes of the Environment from Time Magazine and Goldman Environmental Prize from the Goldman Environmental Foundation-USA. “It’s a happy feeling that we are recognized, not only me but my colleagues and the entire team. Certainly there are times when we feel that we can’t proceed any further... but citations such as the Ramon Magsaysay Award tell us that perhaps we are on the right track and we just have to keep going,” Hasan said. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ GMA News (Philippines): Environment, health groups: Scrap ‘pyrolysis’ in new medwaste manual 29 August 2012 Environment and health advocates on Wednesday called on the Department of Health to remove pyrolysis from its revised Health Care Waste Management (HCWM) Manual. Pyrolysis is listed in the manual as an option for dealing with medical waste, in violation of the spirit and intent of the Clean Air Act of 1999. "We do not want to mislead healthcare workers and the public into thinking that pyrolysis is a clean technology that can be used to manage medical waste," said Director of Health Care Without Harm-Southeast Asia (HCWH-SEA) Merci Ferrer in a press release. According to HCWH, the DOH will be distributing the manual, which serves as a bible for all hospitals when it comes to waste management. The manual describes pyrolysis as "Thermal decomposition of HCW in the absence of supplied molecular oxygen in the destruction chamber in which the said HCW is converted into gaseous, liquid, or solid form. Pyrolysis can handle the full range of HCW. Waste residues may be in form of greasy aggregates or slugs, recoverable metals, or carbon black. These residues are disposed of in a landfill." Ferrer said the provision for incineration is illegal, because there is a total ban on burning waste. However, though the Clean Air Act prohibits the incineration of biomedical wastes, a Supreme Court ruling in 2002 said that incineration is only prohibited if the burning process emits poisonous and toxic fumes. Following the Supreme Court decision, the Department of Energy and Natural Resources issued a clarification on the incinerator ban in the Clean Air Act. "Any thermal treatment technology, whether burn or non-burn as defined in DAO 2000-81, that meets the emission standard for stationary sources as listed in Section 19 of RA 8749 and complies with all other relevant provisions of RA 8749 and other applicable laws of the Republic, is allowed to be operated in the country," the DENR said in its Memorandum Circular No. 2002-05. According to Ruth Stringer, International Science and Policy Coordinator, HCWH Global Projects and International Outreach, the European Union classifies pyrolysis, along with gasification and plasma as incinerators. Stringer also said that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has declared dioxin, an inevitable byproduct of incineration, as a known human carcinogen. From biological problem to toxic pollution Von Hernandez, Executive Director of Greenpeace-Southeast Asia and President of Ecowaste Coalition, said “re-introducing burn technologies via pyrolysis or waste-to-energy proposals is part of the continuing attempt by incinerator-pushers, abetted by their allies in government, to erode and weaken the real intent of the Clean Air Act.” According to Hernandez, burning infectious waste transforms a biological problem into a daunting toxic pollution problem. "Unfortunately instead of pushing for the implementation of the Clean Air Act and the provision of cleaner alternatives, some people in the DENR and the DOH are intent on subverting the spirit of the Clean Air Act by using legal and technical subterfuge like, for example, saying that there have been facilities called pyrolysis. But they are all basically incinerators," he said during a Wednesday press conference. Apart from the inclusion of pyrolysis, Ferrer noted that the "Reduce" in "Reduce, Reuse and Recycle" as originally written in the DOH manual was changed to "Recover." "Gusto po nilang ipasok yung tinatawag na mga waste-to-energy na kung saan ito ay magsusunog ng ating mga basura para raw po tayo o ang ating mga pasilidad ay makakuha ng enerhiya mula sa basura," Ferrer said. "The Philippines has the world's leading Clean Air Act, and that needs to be upheld," Stringer said during the press conference. She added that the Philippines has very good waste management practices that should be replicated around the world. She cited the biodigester in the Perpetual Succor Hospital in Cebu, which is testing an anaerobic digestion process used to treat biodegradable waste without oxygen and that produces gas without burning; and St. Paul Hospital in Tuguegarao, which is autoclaving (sterilizing with steam) its infectious waste onsite. "Dapat magkakaroon ng pagpromote ng alternative, nageencourage ng investment para sa maliliit nating negosyante na meron sa Cotabato, mga shredder, autoclave... wala na ho talagang hahanapin pa," said Ferrer. According to Stringer, autoclaving delivers cleaner air by effectively reducing pollutants, more than incinerators use would. "What we need to do is segregate and treat the waste appropriately," she said. Published in 2011, the 3rd edition Manual on HCWM may be reviewed and updated after five years, according to its preface. "Any proposal for revision shall be forwarded to the National Center for Health Facility Development for consideration. Ensuing amendments to the Manual shall be subject to the formal approval of the Secretary of Health," reads the preface. Lawyer Gloria Ramos of the Philippine Earth Justice Center said the DOH should reconsider their revised manual. "Dapat policy of inclusion should be in place. Hindi puwedeng gagawa gawa lang at iimplementa at expecting all to just accept it. Stakeholders have the right to participate from planning until monitoring," she said during the press conference. Back to Menu _________________________________________________________________ Sudan vision: NCF on RIO +20 Sustainable Development Conference (3-3) 30 August 2012 The Sudanese National Civic Forum (NCF) has been very active in the preparation and participation in the UN Conference on Sustainable Development convened on 20-22 June 2012 in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. The culmination of this activities was first a press conference on 22 May in the SUNA Forum which was followed by a 2 days Workshop in 9 and 10 June 2012 which 9 papers were presented and in the second day came out with the civil society position paper to the RIO + 20 Conference. The first paper by the Ex-Secretary General of the HCENR ( Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources ) and the present President of the Sudanese National Discourse Forum Dr. Nadir Mohamed Awad titled “International Developments From Rio to Rio+20 which gave a review of the developments during the last twenty years .This is the this is the third and last part of our review of this paper.
In September 2000 leaders from 189 nations agreed on a vision for the future: a world with less poverty ,hunger and disease; greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants; better educated children; equal opportunities for women; a healthier environment ; a world in which developed and developing countries work in partnership and for the betterment of all. This vision took the shape of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which provide a framework of time-bound by which progress can be measured. A concise framework of eight goals and 21 targets towards the MDGs was adopted, along with 60 indicators to measure and show progress. While environment as a crosscutting theme is part of several MDGs; its significance in the overall framework is most prominently highlighted in MDG7: Ensuring Environmental Sustainability. MDG-7 The MDG-7 have seven targets from which is ; integrate the principle of sustainable development into country policies and programmes and reverse the loss of environmental resources , reduce biodiversity loss, by achieving ,by 2010 , a significant reduction in the rate of loss ; halve by 2015 the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation and to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million dwellers. WSSD Additional environment targets were subsequently adopted in 2002 at the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) that was convened in South Africa. These relate to: fisheries; marine protection; biodiversity loss; access to renewable energy; and phasing out of organic pollutants. Environmental targets adopted at the WSSD 2002 INCLUDE: To maintain or restore depleted fish stocks to levels that can produce the maximum sustainable yield by 2015. Reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2010. Establish a representative network of marine protected areas by 2012, Increase the share of renewable energy in the total energy supply and provide 35 percent with African households with modern energy within 20 years. Phase out by 2020, production and use of chemicals that harm health and environment on indictors to be set later. Biodiversity The Parties adopted a revised and updated Strategic Plan for Biodiversity for the period 2011-2020, including the set of Aichi Biodiversity Targets comprising five strategic goals and 20 targets. However, these targets have no clear numerical goals, except the following ones: Target 5, by 2020 the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where feasible brought close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced. Targetv11, by 2020 , at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland waters and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas ,especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem services, are conserved through effectively and equitably managed, ecologically representative and well-connected systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, and integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes . To conclude, with specific quantities goals being absent, the above targets may read more like recommendations. However, when goals incorporate numerical levels or values, the required achievement is more clearly defined and potentially obtainable. In fact, empirical evidence shows that goal-setting can work when clear quantitative targets are set. Another lesson learned from the history of environmental target-setting is that it works best for well-defined issues, such as the phasing out Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) or leaded gasoline, and for issues related to industrial chemicals for which technologies exist or can be developed to solve environmental problems associated with their production and use. Finally, it has become clear that it is critical to have baseline information to allow progress towards the targets to be tracked. For example, relatively little measurable progress has been made-or can be demonstrated-towards the WSSD target to “ reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2010”, since there are insufficient ,reliable and comprehensive biodiversity baseline data upon which to base trends and assess progress. Durban-2012 In Durban (December 2012) , governments decided to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible ,but not later than 2015. Work will begin on this immediately under the new group called the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. Governance, including 38 industrialized countries, agreed a second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol from January 1, 2013. To achieve rapid clarity, Parties to this second period will turn their economic-wide targets into quantified emission limitation or reduction objectives and submit them for review by May 1, 2012. Population Since 1992, the world’s population increased by an annual rate of 1.3 percent, adding nearly 1500 million people to the planet. Between 1992 and 2010, world population grew from around 5500 million to close to 7000 million, representing a 26 percent increase. There are large differences in population numbers and changes between regions. For example, nearly 60 percent of the global population lives in Asia, 15 percent in Africa and another 15 percent in North America and Europe combined. However, total population increases are much greater in West Asia (67 percent since 1992) and (Africa 53 percent), while the population number in Europe has grown only slightly (4percent). Governance International environmental governance (IEG) is the total of organizations ,policy instruments , financing mechanisms, rules, procedures and norms that regulate the processes of global environmental protection. There is no agreed definition but the one used by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) rounds it up well. IEG therefore comprise all those organizations addressing aspects of the environment, including UNEP,UNDP, the World Bank, World Trade Organization, etc ,as well as Multilateral Environment Agreements ,such as the Climate, Biodiversity or chemicals conventions, etc., the Global Environment Facility and other funds with a specific focus ,such as the adaptation fund ;and environmental principles ,rules and standards. 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